Topic Conceptualized by Hataipatara (Mont) Vinaiphat
Contributors: Luisa Neumeier, Worawalun Yarn-arpha, Nattanicha (Green) Tojinda, Auekarn (Mook) Amonkitvanit, Tharathorn (Pie) Patcharaprakiti, Hataipatara (Mont) Vinaiphat, and Fabrizio Toneatto.
Issue Editors: Hataipatara (Mont) Vinaiphat & Matthew H. Benton
Cover Photo and Feature Images: courtesy of pexels.com
Welcome to our first themed issue, Empowering Women!
Considering the importance of equality while also looking at its benefits to growth, women empowerment is promoted all over the world. For this issue, we initially invited five female writers who have written on the subject to join us and give us some of their views, presenting several cases from countries such as Japan, Germany, and Thailand.
The month of November has been named the campaign month for ending violence against women and children by the Thai government since 1999. Tharathorn (Pie) gives us a look at this important issue.
We would then like to introduce you to two interesting cases from Japan. As Auekarn focuses on the gender equality in the job industry, Worawalun shows us how Japanese women’s role in the household would also effect their long-term career and life.
On another side of the world, where there exists less gender discrimination, Luisa suggests that the method used to tackle the inequality in German labour market, the women’s quota, might not be the best solution.
Finally, we present you the current situation on discrimination issues in Thailand. Two authors offer contrasting views on the dowry system. Nattanicha gives us some her thoughts on how some unequal culture might be benefiting the women too. While at last, with the effort to encourage women empowerment, Hataipatara talks about how men should support this for their own benefits.
Have a great read!
As Mont wrote in her article, women’s empowerment is such a critically important issue for development that it should receive attention from men and women alike. So far we have heard from a number of women on the topic, but I really wanted to add a male perspective. We are fortunate to have Fabrizio, a former student of mine who has written on the subject, offer us his contribution to the discussion. Throughout the month, we hope to add one or two more articles on the subject, including one from myself.
Thanks for reading and commenting,
Matthew